Charrette Sub Committee - Minutes - DRAFT
November 24, 2008
The Committee discussed and created a draft for the consultant and has approved the following for review and agreement.
Due to a variety of factors the Town is proposing to proceed at this time with the following activities. Consultant(s) need to confirm their availability to participate and work actively with the team assembled to conduct the following activities. Clearly this will be a joint effort that we hope will lead to a more detailed effort in the coming fiscal year although the amount of available funding has not been determined at this time.
The purpose of this proposal at this time is to:
a. Implement several of the recommendations contained in the 2007 Plan of Conservation and Development.
b. Provide the “next step” in planning for detailed implementation of specific alternatives and establish the details for specific regulatory mechanisms (revised zoning regulations) which would be used for development proposals in the center of Simsbury. Subsequent work, if funded, would focus on other areas including the north and south gateways, the Route 10 corridor and possibly other areas of Town.
c. Provide a solid base for establishing follow-up activities including a full-blown charrette with whatever specific regulatory mechanisms might come from that activity.
d. Establish public confidence in the charrette type process and the expertise of the selected consultant, including a solid public relations effort, which will need to be conducted primarily by the municipality, but with advice from the consultant to the extent possible.
e. Establish applicant/land owner/developer confidence in the development process going forward in terms of certainty and speed of decision making.
f. Provide staff with the opportunity to assemble all necessary data and documents needed to go forward with this workshop and subsequently with a full-blown charrette, if that effort is funded.
The structure of this effort is as follows:
Consultant agrees to conduct this effort for a total sum of $40,000.
This effort consists of the following activities and deliverables:
Activty: Completed by: Deliverable:
Pre-workshop:
Determination of the limits of the study area in advance of the workshop.
Consultant and Staff Paper and electronic copy of map with parcel boundaries shown.
Pre-workshop:
Determination of the specific parameters of the workshop including:
a. Selection of the stakeholders.
b. Interview of the stakeholders.
c. Analysis of the study area.
a. Consultant and Staff
b. Notes from consultants on form to be determined by consultant.
c. Existing data from staff. Consultant to contribute to analysis on requested parameters, to be done by staff as much as possible and given to consultant. To be supplemented by the consultant as necessary
a. List of stakeholders
b. Copy of notes from interviews.
c. Analysis summary to be submitted by consultant to establish basis for alternative strategies. Paper copy.
Workshop:
Conduct 3 day workshop addressing:
a. Development of issues based on stakeholder interviews and other public input.
b. Development of alternatives based on existing physical configuration, possible future physical configurations, available developable land, available infrastructure, desirable development scenarios in terms of design, scale and context.
c. Development of various future land use scenarios with preferred scenario(s) selected.
Consultant w/ admin. assistance from Staff.
b. Consultant(s)
c. Consultant(s)
Workshop summary report/brief.
a. Conduct workshop. Provide consultant’s notes or summary issues report.
b. Various sketch maps at urban design scale rather than detailed architectural scale.
c. Selected scenarios and more detailed sketch maps.
Post workshop:
Production of written, detailed recommendations for:
• Next steps for detailed implementation.
• Recommendations for best type of regulatory mechanism to encourage and regulate the preferred development scenario to the extent necessary.
• Other details as may be recommended by the consultant.
Consultant(s)
Written report
Participation: It is critical that the principal commit to participating in and working on this workshop effort as part of the consultant team. The Committee feels strongly that this should be made part of the written agreement. It is clear that participation of the consultant as a highly qualified professional is critical to the potential for success of this effort.
Timing: The Town would like this workshop to be conducted during the month of February 2009 or the first week of March 2009 at the latest. This should also be made part of the written agreement.
The above activities are offered based on the stated parameters. In addition, the Committee feels it needs to be clear that:
1. The consultant agrees to the scope as set out above or as may be modified by mutual agreement.
2. Participation of principles.
3. There is no guarantee of going forward past this point. The land use commissions will actively seek funding for the full-blown charrette effort in this coming budget. However, until those funds are secured, no guarantee of further activity can be made.
4. The process going forward may be a phased process depending upon funding availability.
Respectfully submitted,
Hiram Peck
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